Wristcutters: A Love Story (aka Pizzeria Kamikaze)
An Offbeat Comedy, A Love Story, A Road Movie - But Everybody's Dead!
Distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend, Zia (Patrick Fugit) decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he discovers that there is no real ending, only a run-down afterlife that is strikingly similar to his old one, just a bit worse. Discovering that his ex-girlfriend has "offed" herself, he sets out on a road trip, with his Russian rocker friend, to find her. Their journey takes them through an absurd purgatory where they discover that being dead doesn't mean you have to stop livin'!
Member Reviews
Hmmm... - RobBC
Goran Dukic’s painfully low-budget indie does manage to paint a rather despairing view of purgatory. Using bleached desert landscapes littered with garbage and abandoned clapboard shacks he makes the most of his California interstate locations. He then throws in a few death-related quirks which work occasionally but, more often than not, elicit little more than a weak smile. His ultra low-key approach actually works against him; he may have been aiming for a hip slacker love-after-death story but he delivers a lifeless road movie complete with pat Hollywood ending instead. Some people should just stay dead.Wristcutters: A Love Story - Derekstar
About 2/3rds of the way through this movie I was getting a little worried. I had liked it up until this point, but the road trip had abruptly ended and our heroes were just sitting around some compound with a bunch of nameless strangers for seemingly no reason. But then the ending came, and it was so strong and so sweet and so emotional that it made forgive the preceding bit. It's still is a jarring tonal shift, but I just don't care very much. The movie is a breath of fresh air.A love story for the jaded, the existentialist, and seekers of something new - SkylarGoldman
"Wristcutters: A Love Story (aka Pizzeria Kamikaze)" is based off the popular Israeli writer Etgar Keret's short story "Kneller's Happy Campers". Fans of Gogol Bordello will be pleased to find their music accompanying most of the film.
The film begins when we see our protagonist, "Zia", a seemingly bored and jaded, but well-minded young male decide to "off" himself. Unfortunately for Zia, he discovers that people who "off" themselves all simply end up in a world almost exactly like the one he left, except everything "is a little worse". He gets a boring job, a nit-picky roommate, and gets in a routine of going out to bars only to have mostly meaningless interactions with the other patrons. That is, until he meets Eugene, the no holds barred and somewhat crude Russian who pushes himself into Zia's life in a sort of annoying but affectionate kind of way. Shortly after this Zia learns that his ex-girlfriend, "Desiree", offed herself shortly after he did. The real plot begins.
Zia and Eugene set out together on a quest to nowhere in particular, Zia trying to find his former love, Eugene simply not having anything better to do. Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker, "Mikal", a young girl new to this world thinking she got there by mistake and looking for "the people in charge".
The rest of the film tactfully develops the characters personalities through surprisingly average interactions with each other and the occasional sharing of their lives before they "offed". I say "jaded" and "existentialist" because despite everything feeling old, tired, boring, and meaningless for our protagonists, there is something about their being in this purgatory that is miraculous (but only insignificantly).
I read "Kneller's Happy Campers" before seeing "Wristcutters" and although there are some slight modifications of names, places, and the conclusion itself, they all work to produce a charming, cute, and semi-comedic romantic film. Highly Recommended.
Member Reviews
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Hmmm... - RobBC
Goran Dukic’s painfully low-budget indie does manage to paint a rather despairing view of purgatory. Using bleached desert landscapes littered with garbage and abandoned clapboard shacks he makes the most of his California interstate locations. He then throws ...Wristcutters: A Love Story - Derekstar
About 2/3rds of the way through this movie I was getting a little worried. I had liked it up until this point, but the road trip had abruptly ended and our heroes were just sitting around some compound with a bunch of nameless strangers for seemingly no reason. ...A love story for the jaded, the existentialist, and seekers of something new - SkylarGoldman
"Wristcutters: A Love Story (aka Pizzeria Kamikaze)" is based off the popular Israeli writer Etgar Keret's short story "Kneller's Happy Campers". Fans of Gogol Bordello will be pleased to find their music accompanying most of the film.
The film begins ...